Monday, January 19, 2004

So Friday I was feeling pretty crappy. I just sat around like a blob. Saturday I went into NYC for a friends birthday party which was a ton of fun. After the party at 3am, my friend and I went to the Mercury Bar for one last drink and some pizza. Its nice to know you can get whatever you want whenever you want. Then we finally slept around 6am. Sunday we woke up, chilled, ate hummus and cheesecake, and watched an amazing movie called Waking Life. Then I came home. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so no work, although its not much of a holiday because neither of my parents have to work either. At least I had some incentive to begin a job search!

I met a really interesting girl (who I'll call Rhea) at the party. She was very nice, and I'm guessing a bit drunk which is why she gave me her life story. Not that I minded, it was pretty cool. Im going to share it with you. Lets take a break from the morbidity, shall we?

Rhea's mother was born in Cuba. During the revolution when Fidel Castro was coming into power, they were allowing people who did not agree with Castro's policies (and everything else) to leave the country. The majority of people who left ended up in Miami, or Union City, New Jersey (dont ask me how). Rhea's mother ended up in Union City.

Rhea's mother always knew she was a lesbian, but in the early 1960's it was a taboo topic. Her mother lived with a strict Catholic family and couldnt tell anyone how she felt. One day, her mother met Rhea's Spanish father, who was 20 years her senior, and then married him.

Rhea was born. Her father died 4 years later. Her mother then picked up and moved to Manhattan bringing Rhea with her.

This was the early 1970's. Rhea's mother joined a lesbian group called "La Violinistas" (which means "The Violins" in Spanish. It was there Rhea's mother met her stepmother.

Rhea was telling me about life with "two mommies." She said they were strict with her, sent her to Catholic School, and made her eat her veggies. Kids at school teased her for having two mommies and no daddy. When she was 11, someone once told her, "You have two mommies. That is so fucked up." Rhea responded with a punch saying, "You dont know where your father is, and your mother is a bitch." (Did I mention that Rhea was raised in Manhattan? Those kids have a lot of street smarts!) People threw comments like that towards her every so often, but she said, she had 2 people who loved her, so she was luckier than most. She mentioned that peoples misconceptions about her life and her mothers made her stronger and smarter. She said that just because her mothers are lesbians, people assumed they had crazy parties, were all around dirty people, and would force Rhea to be a lesbian too.

After a broken engagement, Rhea met a very nice guy (who was also at the party...he was about 6'7!!), and they dated for 2 years and married. Rhea wanted to make sure that he was accepting of her parental situation. At the wedding, she had a mother-daughter dance with her mother. Her mother first said no, because she thought Rhea would be embarrassed, but Rhea didnt care. Now everyone is happy and healthy.

I thought it was such a nice story. I love to hear about people who can get past others ignorance and misconceptions to come out on top.

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